TEHRAN, Jan 28 -A senior commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) says the Zionist regime of Israel will be eliminated and the entire occupied Palestinian territories will be retaken if it embarks on starting a new war.

TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) -The IRGC’s second-in-command, Brigadier General Hossein Salami, made the remarks while speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the first national conference on the “defensive and security architecture of the Islamic Establishment” in Tehran on Monday.

“We announce that if Israel takes any step to start a new war, without a doubt, this war would be the same war, which would end in its elimination and the occupied territories will be retaken,” Salami said.

The remarks came after Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned last week that Iran would face consequences for any threat against Tel Aviv.

During a public speech on January 21, Netanyahu said that Israel was “acting against Iran and the Syrian forces” that were helping what he called “the Iranian aggression.”

"Whoever threatens to destroy us will bear the full responsibility," he said.

After Israel's aerial attacks in Syria’s south in the early hours of last Monday, Damascus once again wrote protest letters to the United Nations, urging the world body to take a decisive step and put an end to the Tel Aviv regime’s acts of aggression against its territory, saying the regime’s hostile strikes were aimed at “prolonging” the crisis in the Arab country.

The development came after Syria’s air defenses shot down more than 30 cruise missiles and guided bombs during Israel's aerial attacks.

Earlier on Monday, Salami, addressing the conference on the “defensive and security architecture of the Islamic Establishment,” said Iran is fighting against big world powers that have focused their full attention on defeating the Islamic Republic.

He emphasized that Iran must gradually erode the enemy's power, saying, "This is the first thing that can prepare the ground for [achieving] big victories under unequal conditions."

The commander emphasized that Iran had no "direct physical presence" in the region, "but there are major forces, which are present across the region, pursuing goals and adopting approaches similar to those of the Islamic Republic.

Salami added that the US has suffered unprecedented defeats despite huge political and military spending, emphasizing that it would face similar setbacks in the future.

Saying that Iran has stripped the enemy of the ability to launch any military action, the IRGC commander noted that the enemy is gradually losing its economic and political power, and it is the United States, which is moving toward more decline.

Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Baqeri said earlier this month that although the US had spent a total of 7,000 billion dollars in Iraq and Syria, it had achieved nothing while the Islamic Republic gained a lot despite its very low spending in those countries.

“If Americans spent 7,000 billion dollars in Syria and Iraq and achieved nothing, what we spent [in those countries] was very low, but [we had] all these important and strategic results and achievements due to perseverance, jihad, hard work, good thinking, [as well as good] management and guidance,” he added.